BMW 3 Series FLUIDUM by Andy Reiben Art Car

Car makers have often used fashion houses to create new versions of their exist cars. Machines like the Chrysler 300C John Varvatos Limited Edition, the Range Rover Evoque Victoria Beckham Edition and the Fiat 500 by Gucci prove that mixing fashion and motoring can create interesting limited edition cars, and it’s the same with art.

The new BMW Series 3 FLUIDUM by Andy Reiben is the latest in a line of artist influenced BMWs. The original BMW Art Car Project was a BMW 3.0 CSL that was redesigned by American artist Alexander Calder in 1975. That machine was raced at the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race the same year it was commissioned. In those days the purpose of the project was different to today as Thomas Girst, the head of BMW Art Cars explains, “In the beginning the cars were raced. There wasn't much of a public relations effort around them... Since then, some of the Art Cars have been used in advertisements to show that BMW is a player in the arts.”

Since the 3.0 litre CSL was commissioned in the mid-1970s, there have been 17 examples created including a 320i Turbo that was made over by Roy Lichtenstein and an M1 Group 4 racing car that Andy Warhol painted in 1977. The BMW Series 3 FLUIDUM by Andy Reiben is the 18th and the first since 2010 when an M3 GT2 was given a colourful reworking by Jeff Koons.

Czech artist Reiben creation is based on a BMW 3-Series and was commissioned by a BMW dealership in the Czech Republic. The mobile piece of art has been covered in a vibrant collection of colours that comprise several different pigments including fluorescent and luminescent paints. This glow in the dark creation is described by its creator as an abstract expression of “passion and dynamism.”